商品簡介
Fleming is convinced that Ongota is an Afroasiatic language but in a class by itself. While his analysis shows it to have similarities to both Hamar and Tsamai, Ongatan grammar does not closely resemble any recognized linguistic group. Fleming is of the opinion that Ongota may share an ancient ancestor with the Cushtic languages; he uses a number of methods to locate similarities and family resemblance, including physical anthropology, historical linguistics and even genetics. The result is a fascinating narrative, a complex detective story that leads readers from the phonology and morphology of an orphan language through statistical and etymological evidence. Fleming even describes data released on Ongota most recently and its implications for the classification of the language and the people and, as an appendix, an English-Ongota lexicon. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
